Clintonville commission votes for left-turn lane

Those wanting a left-turn lane from westbound E. North Broadway to southbound N. High Street got what they wanted last night: a Clintonville Area Commission vote in favor of the plan.

Mark Ferenchik, The Columbus Dispatch

Those wanting a left-turn lane from westbound E. North Broadway to southbound N. High Street got what they wanted last night: a Clintonville Area Commission vote in favor of the plan.

The commission voted 5-3 in favor, with Chairman Daniel B. Miller abstaining. A city official said work should begin this year.

The controversial project has split the community for four years; the area commission voted against it in 2010, after another group of commissioners voted for it the previous year.

Mayor Michael B. Coleman said a year ago that he favored the left-turn-lane project, but he left it up to the community.

He now has another vote in favor. This one carries a request that the city promise not to widen E. North Broadway between Broadway Place and Indianola Avenue. Residents who live along the street have feared widening will happen with a turn lane.

It also asks for city studies to determine whether traffic-calming measures are needed on W. North Broadway, and to make N. High Street in Clintonville safer. Those proposals had been in an alternate resolution that Commissioner Nancy Kuhel proposed but fellow commissioners rejected.

Turn-lane proponents said the project is needed because traffic now cuts through narrow residential streets to head south on High.

“Doing nothing is absolutely not an option,” said Commissioner Dana Bagwell, who voted for it.

But Kuhel, who voted no, said there’s been no study showing that the left-turn lane would eliminate cut-through traffic.

Commissioner Jim Blazer, who lives on E. North Broadway, was blunt before voting no.

Commissioner Jennifer Kangas, another no vote, said she fears it will generate more traffic down E. North Broadway because people will know they can turn left.

The vote came after a 2 1/2-hour meeting — and Miller’s “preface on civility” to head off the ugliness of past meetings.

It worked. No outbursts or finger-pointing.

Seven people spoke in favor of the turn lane, seven against. After the vote, Sarah Snyder, a former commissioner who wanted the turn lane, said, “I hope we can move forward as a community."

The vote came as a lawsuit involving E. North Broadway remains unresolved. The North Broadway Street Association, a group of homeowners, has sued the city to resolve who owns the right of way along the street in a national historic district.

Coleman’s spokesman, Dan Williamson, said the mayor still wants the turn lane. Williamson said he doesn’t think the lawsuit will hold up construction.

The project is estimated to cost $350,000, said Patti Austin, the city Department of Public Service administrator who attended the meeting. The plan could go to the City Council for approval by the summer and the work completed this year.